News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-03-17
Rev, Henry Ward Reecher.

Rev. Henry w ard Beecher died at
half past nine, Tuesday morning, the
9th instant, in Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr..
Beecher was born in Litchfield, Conn.,,
June "a, 1918, during the settlement
of his father, Rev. DR.. Lyman Beech
er, at that place. His father was one
of the many remarkable men of his
generation, who occupied conspicu-
Gus place and had wide and power
full influence upon the questions of the
day. In early life Lyman Beecher
determined TO devote himself to the
ministry, and so intent was he upon
that object that he toiled years as a
blacksmith to obtain money with
which to commence his collegiate
course. He was a man of great power,
courage and persistence, and Henry
Ward was regarded by the friends of
both as the one of the family of twelve
children who reached the estate of
men and women, to possess his faith
er's strong characteristics in the great
est degree. His mothers name was
Roxana Foote, a lady of rare intellec-
tual and personal attractions, who
died when Henry was in his fourth
year. In his early boyhood Mr..
Beecher was noted for mis- good health
and high spirits, showing few signs of
his future intellectual powers. His
voice was thick and husky, his memo
ry was poor, and his manner, so far
from being confident, was shy to an
unusual degree. While yet lad he
went to Boston, whittier his father
was called to enter upon that long
and most effective pastorate. Soon
after his arrival he was sent to the
Latin School, but his memory proved
defective and his progress was SO
slow that he lost all taste for books
and burned with desire to got to sea.
He was then sent to the Mt. Pleasant
School in Amherst, with the promise
that if he made good progress in his
mathematics he should be allowed to
enter the navy. Out of sight of the
ocean his love for the land returned,
and in the new school life his sea
dreams were forgotten. In 1880,
when IL years of age, he entered AN
herst College. He was not close
student, but an extensive reader.
There he displayed that ready flow of
wit and humor which have been his
leading characteristics. He was grad
uated in 1884 and entered Lane Sem
mary, of which his father had accept
ed the Presidency two years previous
an institution under the direction of
the Presbyterians. Here he met bis
future brother-in-law. Rev. Calvin
Stowe, who married his most talented
sister, Harriet Beecher. He never
showed any taste for theological con-
troversies, but was always a ready
champion for moral reforms. While
yet in college and before he was OF
age, he made reputation as an advo'
cate of temperance, catching his in
spiration from his father, who may
be said to have been the pioneer oil
total abstinence in New England.
On completing his theological course
he married, and was shortly afterward
called to the charge of the Presbyte-
rian church in Lawrenceburg, Ind.
then a thinly settled and semi-civil-
lied locality, but there Mr.. Beecher's
ability as a preacher soon crowded the
little church with attentive audiences
His fame soon reached the metropo
lis of Indiana, where, after a short
trial, he was called to become the pas
tor of the Second Presbyterian churcl
at salary of $500. He occupied hi:
leisure hours in editing an agriculture
paper, in which the department o
Horticulture rather overran the column:
usually devoted to the useful crops
But Mr.. Beecher was too noted :
preacher to remain in indianapolis
and his fame reached the far-off East
The new Plymouth Church, there re
Gently completed, was then without I
pastor. A friend who was interested
both in the new church and Mr.
Beecher, thought that was the plac
for him, and with this in view, pro
cured an invitation for him to delive
an address before the American HON
Missionary Society in May, 1847. Il
compliance with this request Mr.
Beecher came to New York, and afte
delivering the address, accepted an in
vitation to preach to the Plymouth
society. He was announced in tn
Brooklyn Eagle of May Is: "Rev
Henry Ward Beecher, from Indianap
oils, Ind, will preach morning ant
evening in the new Congregations
church on Cranberry street, During
the following summer he received ,
unanimous call to become the paste
of the church, which, after a time
and against the advice of his father
he did. His salary in his new pulpit
was $500 the first year, $3.50 the
second and $4,000 the third. He en-
tered upon his duties Sept. 10, 1847
His morning sermon was DEVOTED tc
doctrinal theology, and his evening
discourse was an emphatic definition
of his views on slavery, temperance
and other moral questions which Their
agitated the country. His outspoken
sentiments on these subjects, particu,
larly on the question of slavery, pro.
voked the resentment Of the conser-
vative press and clergy. In 1850 his
salary was raised to $500, and in
consideration of i'll health he was
granted a six months leave of alb.
sence. Previous to going he deliy-
cred several powerful phillipics against
the fugitive slave law which the South
was demanding, and which many pol
lticians were urging. The silence Of
one religious body on this subject lee
Mr.. Beecher to assail it as follows
THAT ponderous body can lombard
men bravely for using tobacco, but ii
can't say one word against selling men
and women to raise it. 1t can spend
and exert its tremendous machinery
against the awful sin of the dancing Of
young men and maidens, but it can't
utter word when maidens are SOLD
to prostitution and young men are
driven off in chain gangs to the rice
swamps of Georgia"
From the day of the passage of the
Fugitive slave act. Mr.. Beecher was
one of the boldest and the ablest Of
the foes of slavery. He was one OF
the originators of the underground
railway, and was reviled with the
other anti-slavery leaders of that pc
Rod by the pro-Slayery Dress. Al